Company Picnic

This weekend Numerica had a company picnic in the park. The BBQ was catered and the afternoon was complete with face-painting and balloon-tying.

Guess who got the pretty, dark skin?

Grace and a Cookie

Happy Birthday, James!

James turned 32 yesterday! We celebrated the day by purchasing a king-sized bed, eating dinner with plenty of gravy, and opening a stack of presents from the kids (art work wrapped in home-made wrapping paper). His birthday cake was stuffed with chocolate mousse, whipping cream and Oreo cookies. In the evening, we all went to the church for Enrichment night. I hadn't planned on attending since it was his birthday, but apparently he had already signed up to baby-sit. What a guy!

Front Porch in Firestone

This is the view from our front porch (can I say how great it is to have a porch?). It was a great privilege for James to mow a real lawn with a real mower.

Road Trip

Here are some pictures taken during rest stops on our drive from Arizona to Colorado.

Ben is a Babe Magnet

Ben spent his time at our farewell picnic chasing the girls. I guess they saw past the snotty nose and the chocolate all over his face.

This is Allie with Liz from Payson, Utah. Allie's great-grandfather, Alvie Henline, was her family's home teacher for years while she was growing up.

Getting Settled

We have moved in and are pretty much unpacked. Tonight we are going to finish putting up pictures and then we will be ready to go. I'll post some pictures soon.

I don't know how we ever managed without a basement, or a three-car garage for that matter. We will never be able to go back, that is for sure.

Our favorite attraction so far: the rec center. It is much better than the splash park in Sahuarita because it is in-doors and heated to 97 degrees. We encourage all cousins to visit!

Here is a quote from Tessa:

Mom, which side of the sink has the exploder?

Carlie's Wedding

Allie's cousin got married so it was a perfect opportunity to get the kids out of the house while James stayed home to pack. (A huge thanks goes to James.) It was sad to say good-bye to the Mesa Temple!

House in Firestone

Some of you know about the drama regarding our housing situation. The house in Ft. Collins went into foreclosure, so we decided not to pursue that one. It was pretty stressful to try to find a new place sight-unseen with only a couple of weeks until the move. We have since arranged for a different house which will only be 45 minutes from Rand and Jane (and only 7 hours from Steve and Lori).

The movers will be here Tuesday and we will stay in a hotel for a few days while James finishes his last week at Raytheon. We expect to arrive in Denver next Saturday.

Kindergarten Talent Show

In case you're wondering who's screeching in the background, that's Grace who was very happy to see Marie up on stage.

During Daddy Interviews

James: We're going to live in a new house in Colorado.

Ben: Monsters in it?

Keeping it Cool

It's that season again when we find creative ways to keep cool.

Tongue Twisters!

What We'll Miss Most about our House

We'll sure miss our back yard. The new grass that James just planted is beginning to come in and now we are trying to spend as much time as possible back there.

The grapefruit and fig trees.

The wax-leaf privet.
Jasmine at the kitchen window

and the fountain that the kids sure have loved playing in.

Ben sun bathing with a banana.


Tessa enjoys watching Daddy mow the lawn.

As a side note, the Guthrie family has the running joke that Allie and James will spend $300 on a tree but are too cheap to buy dish towels. When my sister Staci was here visiting, she quickly became fed up with our awful pots and pans. She said, "I am in this brand-new house, and it is like living in the wilderness." There is no doubt that our priorities are in the back yard!

Another Funny from Tessa

Tessa: I want a husband.

Allie: So you can have kids?

Tessa: So I can have lots of money. That's why I want a daddy. And I'll tell my daddy to WORK!

We have a contract!

We finally have a contract for our Sahuarita house. For those of you wondering, two offers came at the same time and in the end we chose to go with the family who has been renting the house behind ours. A friend from church gave us a little bit of advice that helped us make the final decision:

When making an investment choice, you have to look at three outcome scenarios (best case, most probable, and worse case). You take the option which would potentially result in the best case scenario, and if you can stomach the worst, you move forward.

So we did. And now we are only waiting on a contract for our rental in Ft. Collins (we are not worried because we have been told it is ours--the management company is just super busy writing contracts with college students preparing for fall semester).

Funny Quotes

Ben (during breakfast): Yogurt all done. Too soggy. Cookie now.

____


Tessa (praying): ...And we're thankful Grace came out of mommy. Alive.

____

Marie and Tess (discussing sand-castle real estate): Would you like to come over to my property?

The House that could have Been

This is the house for which we made an informal offer. It was accepted, but we have since decided not to go through with it. We are going to remain flexible until the loose ends are tied here in Tucson.

In the mean time, we will probably rent this house across the street:

The kids decided Grace needed "clips" in her hair.

Marie blows out the candles on her birthday cake.

Opening new earrings from Daddy.

Is this girl thrilled to be six, or what? (She can't wait to be 18 so she can have a cat.)

Busy, busy.

I understand people are getting fed up with our lack of communication. I warned all y'all. As my dad so eloquently put it: "Your house is up for sale/rent. Little messes that were no big deal before are now major sins."

We are flying Grandma Lori down to watch the three oldest while James and I hunt for housing in Colorado. We get back Sunday night. Tuesday is Marie's 6th birthday and since Lori and Randy will be down, we'll have some kind of bash Wednesday night.

Here are some old pictures that you may have missed...

Colorado or Bust!

James got a new job at Numerica, a small engineering/consulting firm. His first day is June 3rd. The company is located in Loveland, about an hour away from my parents. We will most likely live in Ft. Collins. We imagine things will get pretty crazy here, so updates will mostly likely be few and far between. James is scheduled to spend some time in Florida and will be working on the reports for the end of his three-year project. We've also got to figure out details for house hunting, moving, and renting out our own place.